[R]ighteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Oh, I like it when Scripture puts two things together. It always gives me pause, because often, they’re things that are intended to surprise. Another great example is Paul’s greeting to the church – Grace and Peace to you…. Grace was something that Hellenistic gentiles said in greeting. Peace, or Shalom was a traditional Hebrew greeting. We’ve grown accustomed to that greeting, but at the time, it was a startling combination of the greetings from two clashing cultures.
In this psalm, righteousness and peace will kiss each other. On first hearing, this could be a normal thing, like grace and peace. Thinking about it, though, they don’t always go hand in hand. To be righteous often means there is some conflict, as righteous can only exist with the presence of unrighteous. It’s a relative term, and when it’s used by those who consider themselves righteous, it’s a way to differentiate and make better than those considered unrighteous.
Similarly, peace is something we should all seek, but sometimes when I say I want peace, what I want is for the dissent to go away. I’m remembering when my kids were small and bickering. All I wanted was peace. It didn’t matter who started it; I just wanted the noise to stop. Sometimes, peace comes at the cost of caring who was right, or even finding out who was right. Righteousness doesn’t matter, when all you want is peace.
For righteousness and peace to kiss, we need to see these two qualities in relationship to each other. It’s both/and, not either/or. We need to know that in our pursuit of righteousness, we can be disturbing the peace. And to strive for peace, sometimes we gloss over the when there really is a righteousness issue. There probably is a middle balancing place, or a fulcrum with these two qualities. For those of us who err on the side of righteousness, we need to invite more peace. For those who seek peace, some attention to righteousness may be in order. In my home, my husband and I each gravitate to one side of this tension, and we see things more balanced when we work together.
This morning, I’m thinking about what I need to do to have righteousness and peace kiss in my life. I probably need to aim for more peace over being more right.
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